Panty-hose, which are constituted by a pair of stockings and a panty in one body, are being widely worn at present, since they fit on a variety of human body figures. Conventionally panty-hose are automatically seamed by utilizing a seaming machine, in which a pair of stocking materials are sewn and combined into goreless panty-hose on a circulating template unit which has a pair of template assemblies for upholding and spreading the stocking materials mounted thereon. The seaming machine also includes a cutter assembly for partly slicing the stocking materials upheld by the template assemblies and a sewing machine for seaming the spread stocking materials together. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,681). The above-mentioned seaming machine was developed based on the fact that the panty-hose can fit a variety of human body figures even without the presence of the gore if the inherent strechability of the knitted fabric material is effectively utilized.
However, recently some wearers desire panty-hose which can fit better than the above-mentioned goreless panty-hose. The panty portion of goreless panty-hose is stretched in accordance with a variety of human body figures, especially the material positioned at a thigh portion thereof which connects the panty portion to the stocking portions, is highly stretched when the panty portion receives the abdomen, the waist and the hip of a person. Then, due to the excessive stretch of the thigh portion, the person who wears the goreless panty-hose may feel uncomfortable. Especially when a wearer is fat or when a wearer sits down, since the stretch of the material is increased and the waist line of the panty-hose is deflected, the wearer may feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, sometimes, the seamed portion positioned at the crotch portion of the panty-hose may be damaged when it is excessively stretched due to the movement of the wearer. In addition, wearers may feel uncomfortable when wearing the goreless panty-hose, since the above-mentioned goreless panty-hose have a seam line positioned at the crotch portion thereof.
To obviate the above-mentioned problems, some of the panty-hose manufacturers manufacture gored panty-hose which have gores at the crotch portions thereof. In these cases, since seam lines between the gore material and the stocking materials curve, the seaming operation of the gored panty-hoses is manually effected by skilled sewers. Therefore, the productivity of the gored panty-hose is lower than that of the goreless panty-hose, and the cost of the gored panty-hose becomes higher than that of the goreless panty-hoses. Therefore, a method and apparatus for automatically seaming gored panty-hose have been desired.